you don’t plan on hanging around long then?’
‘Maybe.’ She shoved her hands in the pockets of her shorts and watched him through long eyelashes. ‘Can’t I help?’
‘Suppose. Have you mucked out a stable before?’
She shook her head and the light caught her dark hair, glancing off the red and blue streaks. ‘But it can’t be difficult can it? I mean, it’s only shovelling shit.’
He held his pitchfork out. ‘There you go then, lady, start some shit-shovelling.’ She flinched slightly at the weight and then stuck the fork deep into the bed.
‘Christ almighty it’s heavy. How the fuck…?’
‘For a traveller you’re clueless.’
‘I’m not a traveller, or a gypsy.’ She looked like she was trying to give him a haughty look, and not succeeding. ‘I’m a free spirit.’ Then she giggled as she tried to move the fork and failed.
He smiled. She was tiny, and she’d just tried to dig up half the bed. ‘This stable’s got a deep bed. Just take it off the top, here.’ He stood behind her, put his hands over hers, skimming the muck off the top of the bed.
Her back was warm, pressed against the front of him, her tiny hands disappearing beneath his and a tremor of awareness ran through her as he swung to the side to empty the fork in the barrow. She glanced up at him then, dark hair framing the delicate features, a tinge of blush along her cheekbones and she was all trust and innocence, like she’d been when she’d first appeared this morning.
He bent his head and kissed her. Just one light kiss on those cute rosebud lips, and it drenched his senses with her smell and her need. He didn’t mean to do it. He shouldn’t have done it. But there was something in her, and James didn’t know what the hell it was, but it had just dragged him right in where he didn’t want to go.
He’d not had a sweet kiss for a long time. Not since Chloe had gone. And he hadn’t intended on having it again.
She eased her grip on the fork just like he knew she would, half-turned in his arms, stared at him with need, and moved her hands up to his chest.
Fuck. He let go of the pitchfork like it was molten metal and took a step back. Why the hell had he done that? He hadn’t exactly banned kisses from his life when he moved out here, but he’d firmly limited them. The platonic kiss on the cheek and the passionate kiss during sex. He liked the taste of a woman just before she came, her kiss told him far more than her words ever did.
This was neither.
She was still in the same spot, swaying slightly, a quizzical expression on the face that had been clear.
‘That didn’t happen. I’ll get another fork.’
‘Sure.’ Her tone was light, but more confused than hurt.
There was a fork across the yard, but he didn’t pick it up. He gritted his teeth and walked to the bottom of the row of stables, took a breath and wondered why the hell he had a raging hard-on and why the hell he’d let himself touch her. More than that, kiss her.
It was that look of innocence, probably, a look he found hard to resist. She was a mixture of tease and doubt, of the unconventional and a need to fit the norm. But he wasn’t here to reassure her, to teach her. He picked up the heaviest pitchfork he could see and strode back, wielding it like a weapon. A harder workout might help. This girl was not staying around, she was going before they’d got to the end of the day if he had anything to do with it.
As he reached the open stable door, his mobile buzzed in his pocket. He glanced at the display. Dan. Took a step back so that he could watch Kezia and have some level of privacy.
‘What the fuck are you two playing at?’
‘Hi to you too, mate. And we’re having a good break, thanks for asking.’
‘We don’t need anyone to help out.’ He leaned back against the wall and twirled the fork.
‘Aw, come on Mr Grumpy. Marie said you’d probably have a hissy fit.’
‘Then why did you send her?’ He wasn’t exactly angry; now his body was back under control it was more an annoyance. There had been a plan, which suited him fine. They went and had fun. He stayed behind to look after the place, not babysit.
‘She needs something, someone.’
‘I’m not a someone.’
Dan laughed. ‘You’re not wrong, but you do okay as a something. Here, talk to Marie.’ He was handed over to the pacifier. Not that any of them was exactly fiery; they all knew how to defuse a situation, how not to rise to the bait. But they knew this was his weak spot; they knew that being stuck here with a woman depending on him was supposed to be out of the equation.
‘You’re not playing fair.’ He got a word in before she did.
‘Sorry.’ She sighed. ‘She’s had a tough time, but she’s nice. The clients will like her, they loved her in Capri. She’s got a gentle touch, she’s natural, no artifice, open.’
‘You don’t need to spell it out, I can read—’
‘I know, you’re better than me at understanding people, but I’m just trying to explain. I couldn’t leave her, James.’ Her voice was soft. ‘Help me to help her, please? Look after her, once she was out of that job she needed something straight away, trust me.’ Oh, great, someone desperate, one of Marie’s fallen angels who needed rescuing, putting back together again. Except she didn’t look like she was falling apart. She had guts, was prepared to fight her battles and stand her ground. Even if she was tiny and had great big eyes that shone out with a naivety and purity you didn’t often see these days. Especially not here.
‘So, why didn’t you tell me? And why didn’t you come back to sort it yourself?’
She laughed. ‘She needs someone like you, and she needs time to understand the place before we get clients back in. And,’ she paused, laughed, ‘I forgot.’
‘You haven’t given her a job description, have you?’
‘She’ll be fine. We’ll find her something to do.’
‘Marie.’ It was his turn to sigh. So he was trapped here for the summer with a girl, except nobody had told her what the job was. Once she knew what went on she’d probably go, like Roisin nearly had. But go where? Either way he’d look the bastard. Whether he cornered her into staying or chased her away. ‘And how do you know she’ll be any use?’
‘We’ll find something for her to do. She’s sweet, she’ll put people at ease.’ Another pause. ‘She’s got nowhere to go James, no money, nothing.’
And no one from the sound of it.
The sigh travelled across the miles. ‘Do you want me to come back?’
Great, that would mean two of them here to bother him. ‘I know you don’t mean that Marie, so I’m not even going to say no. You’ve got a soft spot for her for her haven’t you?’
